Smackdown Before Summerslam 8/21/2020, or *Thunderdome: Must Pack Heat*

 

  

Are you ready for some Dome action, playa? We've reached at the Smackdown before Summerslam, and would youlook at that, we're out of the performance center! An interesting development to say the least! So many digital faces ready to line the seats of the Amway Center, but can they pull it off without doubling the same face in two seats like a certain convention this week? Will Chris Benoit show up in the stands? Will we see the return of The Red Rooster before tape delay cuts him off (here's lookin' at you, Yamaguchi-san!) Anything can happen in the THUNRRRRRDRRRRRRMM, but let's do a quick preview of tonight's show to keep things professional. 

Vinny Mac is gonna start off our show tonight welcoming us to the THUNDRRRRDRRRRM in his first appearance since celebrating The Man With The Nose. Surely he is proud of pulling this off before Sumerslam weekend. Will he be emotional about his move or will he show his grapefruits of steel about IT? 

Well, it's been a Hellweek for Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Sonya Deville's jealousy of Mandy Rose hit high point when she attacked her and cut her locks of loveliness in an efort to debeautify her, but Mandy ain't having it as we head into their Lucha de Apuestas. No hair don't care when it comes to stakes for this not so friendly feud. What will they have to say to one another before somebody gets grabbed by the short hair this Sunday? 

(And of course, let's give it up for these ladies after escaping the violent minded stalker this week that has the WWE locker room permitting up. Nothing can stop this blood feud, not even a creepin' ass criminal! The annihilation of arguments against the Second Amendment has come to WWE, as per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. And this author, for one, is pleased! #MustPackHeat)

Big E and Sheamus are trying to do their thing. Big E is in a position to finally get his singles shine on, but those pesky An- errr, Retribution yuppies are stealing his spotlight. Can Sheamus' translucence act as a prism through which the Big E ignites like a firebomb? Or will production truck issues and faux-revolutionism keep another good man down?

With the return of Kalisto, Lucha House Party has a numbers advantage against their would be heelish prey, the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. LHP have a shot at the gold tonight. Will they use those numbers to pull one out for the fiesta fueled faction, or will Cesaro and Shinsuke suck the air out of their balloons? 

PISS, it follows Jeff Hardy, apparently. However this is Jeff Hardy's biggest opportunity in in recent memory. Can Jeff Hardy beat the system and dethrone AJ Styles as Intercontinental Champion going into Summerslam, or will he piss it all away and find himself in a abysmal state of stagnation? The Charismatic Enigma vs The Phenominal One, let's go ahead and call it Match of the Night preemptively. 

Braun Strowman has one last message for The Fiend before his title defense on Sunday Night, and he isn't pulling any punches. He has cast aside everything but his monstrous energy and intentionality for his feud with The Fiend. There is no room for sentimentality. Not even Alexa Bliss can snap the Monster Among Men of his returning state of mind. However, it may be Strowman's championship, but could be argued that it is The Fiend's house, and IT isn't going to be fun. Can The Fiend sew the seeds of human doubtfulness in the Monster's mind, or can The Monster Among Men rattle The Fiend's caged mind? 

Find out the answer to these questions and more tonight on Smrrrrkdrrrrrn! 

(And don't forget to do your NXT XXX Predictions and keep an eye out for the Summerslam Predictions after the show when Wu gets to posting them.)

NXT Predictions - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffvz6bfnvvD0DteM4epw6_c3i-Ox8cnp_DqRX8FLOaQyXVHg/viewform?usp=send_form